The present invention relates in general to telephone systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to telephone systems that offer voice messaging services to their subscribers.
Over the years, many types of telephone voice messaging systems have been developed. One general type of telephone voice messaging system is a remote system that records and stores voice messages from incoming telephone calls after a specified number of rings go unanswered. Such a remote telephone voice messaging system stores telephone messages at a site remote from the subscriber and typically includes a central switchboard for intercepting telephone calls and storing messages. This type of remote telephone voice messaging system is often used with a typical public switched telephone system (xe2x80x9cPSTNxe2x80x9d).
In a typical remote telephone voice messaging system, a voice messaging system (xe2x80x9cVMSxe2x80x9d) of a telephone company automatically intercepts any telephone calls intended for a local telephone number which are not answered after a predetermined number of rings. Additionally, the VMS intercepts and stores messages intended for a local telephone number that is busy. The VMS then records and stores any received message. The voice messaging system usually communicates with central office switches using SMDI links and T-1 lines. Using the SMDI links, the voice messaging system transmits message waiting indicator requests and message completion requests to the central office switch. A VMS is usually coupled with a service control point (xe2x80x9cSCPxe2x80x9d).
The telephone voice messaging system may alert a subscriber to the presence of stored messages by changing the dial tone of the subscriber""s telephone set to a unique tone, such as a stutter dial tone. The central office switch sends a stutter dial tone to the subscriber location when the subscriber location goes off-hook. The stutter dial tone provides an audible indication that a voice message is waiting. The subscriber recognizes the tone by picking up the receiver of the telephone set and listening. The subscriber then accesses the messages stored by the telephone company according to the prescribed procedures for that telephone voice messaging system, such as dialing a predetermined access telephone number and entering a numeric access code or personal identification number (PIN).
A subscriber location can then access the voice message system over its established voice path and any waiting message can be transmitted by the voice messaging system to the subscriber location. After the subscriber accesses the voice messaging system, the voice messaging system sends a completion request to the switch, instructing it to discontinue sending a stutter dial tone and to now send a normal dial tone to the subscriber location when it goes off-hook.
One problem with current automated telephone voice messaging systems is that it is time and labor intensive for a subscriber to call a remote location (e.g., the telephone company) and enter a PIN to access the messaging system. Moreover, the subscriber must remember the access telephone number and the PIN for the messaging system. If the subscriber forgets or does not know the access telephone number or PIN, he will be unable to retrieve any messages that have been stored.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to automatically connect the subscriber to a stored message center when the telephone handset is xe2x80x9cpicked upxe2x80x9d (i.e., the telephone goes off-hook), thereby minimizing the time and manual effort required of the subscriber to access such a remote telephone voice messaging system.
The present invention is directed to a system and method for entering a voice messaging system when a telephone set goes off-hook. If no voice message is waiting, a dial tone is provided to the telephone set. If a message is waiting, a prompt is activated by a telephone system indicating that such message is waiting, and the subscriber is then prompted to listen to the waiting message. If the subscriber does not wish to listen to the waiting message, he can place a conventional telephone call. If the subscriber chooses to listen to the waiting message (e.g., by entering xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d or saying xe2x80x9cyesxe2x80x9d), control is passed to the voice messaging system and the message is delivered to the subscriber.
The foregoing and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.